[0:00] Heat.

[0:19] Hey, Heat.

[0:29] Right. It's 5:55. We call the premeating

[0:33] into session. So, the normal town

[0:36] moderator is on vacation this week. So,

[0:39] we need to appoint a moderator for

[0:41] ourformational session tonight.

[0:45] Everett Hammond has agreed to be our

[0:47] moderator. Is there a motion to appoint

[0:49] Mr. Hammond?

[0:51] >> So moved.

[0:52] >> You made the motion. Is there a second?

[0:55] >> Steve second. Any discussion around

[0:56] that?

[0:58] >> All those in favor?

[0:59] >> I

[1:02] is there a motion to adjoin adjourn to

[1:05] go into ourformational session?

[1:07] >> So move.

[1:09] >> Motion. Is there a second?

[1:10] >> Second.

[1:10] >> All those in favor?

[1:12] >> I.

[1:13] >> So we'll reconvene at six for

[1:15] theformational session.

[1:34] should have made it here.

[1:38] >> Maybe somebody else was going to be

[1:40] here. Wanted to be a moderator.

[1:47] » You're hired. Congratulations.

[1:51] » Thank you.

[1:54] >> He gave me his vacation.

[1:57] >> Thank you for all being here.

[2:11] Dr.

[5:20] Good evening everyone. I'd like to call

[5:21] thisformational meeting of the

[5:23] Springfield School District to order.

[5:25] The time is now 6:00 p.m. Eastern

[5:28] Standard Time. My name is Ever Hammond

[5:31] and I'm serving as a moderator for

[5:32] tonight's meeting. Thank you for taking

[5:34] the time to be here. Whether you are

[5:36] joining us in person, by phone or

[5:38] watching live stream live stream, please

[5:41] note that in accordance to Vermont's

[5:43] open meeting law, tonight's meeting is

[5:44] being recorded by and broadcasted by SAP

[5:47] TV live. Correct.

[5:51] Let us please stand for the pledge of

[5:52] allegiance.

[6:10] Before

[6:21] we begin, I would like the school board

[6:22] and administrators to join at the front

[6:24] desk, front tables here to introduce

[6:26] themselves.

[6:28] Uh, Troy Palmer, school board chair.

[6:31] >> Denise Hunter, school board clerk.

[6:33] >> Jessica Austin, school board member.

[6:36] >> Steve Cara, school board vice chair.

[6:39] >> Steve Geller, school board member.

[6:48] » Thank you. The purpose of tonight's

[6:50] meeting is strictlyformational.

[6:52] We are here to review proposed FY27

[6:55] Springfield School District budget.

[6:57] Article one, as it is written, is shall

[7:01] the voters of Springfield Town School

[7:03] District approve the school board to

[7:04] spend 41,666,512

[7:10] which is the amount the school board has

[7:11] determined to be necessary for the

[7:13] ensuing fiscal year. It is estimated

[7:15] that this proposed budget, if approved,

[7:17] will result in education spending of

[7:19] $15,08 per pupil. This projected

[7:22] spending per pupil is 7.96%

[7:25] higher than the spending for the current

[7:27] year.

[7:31] Because this is anformational meeting,

[7:33] no binding votes will be taken tonight.

[7:35] The actual vote will take place by

[7:37] Australian ballot on Tuesday, May 5th

[7:40] between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.

[7:42] at the Riverside Middle School. Our goal

[7:44] tonight is to ensure you have all the

[7:45] facts, figures, and context you need to

[7:48] make an informed decision at the polls.

[7:51] Some ground rules for this meeting.

[7:54] The presentation first, we will begin

[7:55] the presentation from the school board

[7:57] and administration outlining,

[7:59] excuse me, the FY27 proposed budget.

[8:02] Please hold all questions until the

[8:04] presentation is complete. During number

[8:07] two, during the question answering

[8:09] portion, if you have a question or

[8:11] comment, please raise your hand or

[8:13] approach the microphone. I will call on

[8:15] people in the order they raise their

[8:16] hands. Please do not speak until you

[8:18] have been recognized by the moderator.

[8:21] State your name. When you're recognized,

[8:22] please state your name, your town of

[8:24] residence clearly, the record, and the

[8:26] minutes. There will be a time limit for

[8:28] each person. To ensure everyone gets a

[8:31] chance to speak, please limit your

[8:32] comments or questions to

[8:35] If you have more questions, I may ask

[8:37] you to yield the floor after your first

[8:38] question and get back into the queue.

[8:42] Address the moderator. Moderator. All

[8:44] questions and comments should be

[8:45] directed to me as the moderator and I

[8:47] will direct them to the appropriate

[8:48] board member or administrator to answer.

[8:52] Are there any questions about these

[8:53] rules before we begin?

[9:01] Seeing none, I will now turn the floor

[9:03] over to board chair.

[9:05] >> Thank you, Mr.

[9:07] I will turn it over to our

[9:10] superintendent.

[9:15] » Good evening. I'm gonna share my the

[9:18] main kind of objective in my

[9:20] presentation tonight is going to be

[9:22] sharing the changes we made from our

[9:24] first version of the budget to the

[9:26] current current budget that we we are

[9:29] presenting to you. that is being voted

[9:32] on on May 5th and talk a little bit

[9:35] about some of the the kind of the

[9:37] framework and the the work that we did

[9:39] collectively as an administrative team

[9:41] to listen to the community to hold on to

[9:45] the things that we felt were really

[9:46] important um connected to all of the

[9:49] work that we have shared through our

[9:51] strategic planning process through our

[9:52] action planning etc um I will be asking

[9:57] our director of curriculum to come up at

[9:59] one point in my presentation to share a

[10:01] little bit about our literacy work which

[10:03] is a big part of what this budget

[10:05] supports

[10:07] and happy to answer any questions that community members may have about

[10:11] the budget the process or the why behind

[10:15] this budget.

[10:17] So can I get my presentation

[10:38] You have present.

[10:58] This is glacial slide changing.

[11:06] » Can you just advance it when I say

[11:08] advance?

[11:26] Great. So, um, some of the big changes,

[11:30] uh, we

[11:32] had a couple meetings after our budget

[11:35] defeat and we talked with the board and

[11:40] really needed wanted to get a sense of

[11:42] direction in terms of, you know, how how

[11:45] deep should we go back to the budget. I

[11:46] think it's import share that when we

[11:49] presented budget, our first version of

[11:51] the budget,

[11:53] we were

[11:56] we did not present that budget with

[11:58] additional

[12:00] funding within that budget that we

[12:02] thought we could cut later. We really

[12:04] did a lot of work going into version one

[12:07] of our budget to be sure that we had

[12:10] looked at previous budgets to make sure

[12:13] that we had made changes to budget lines

[12:16] where maybe we had overestimated or

[12:19] underestimated so that when we came

[12:21] forward with a budget it was our best

[12:24] work.

[12:25] We knew coming into this second version

[12:28] of the budget that we needed to both

[12:32] look at what changed from the first

[12:34] budget which you know primarily was was

[12:38] constructed in January that was kind of

[12:40] the end point for that budget um to

[12:44] April when we finalized this current

[12:47] one. Um we did have some fortunate

[12:50] shifts from January to April where we

[12:52] were able to find some savings.

[12:55] Primarily those savings were in the

[12:58] utilization of grant funding.

[13:01] We did have positions that we and I'll

[13:05] share this in a moment. We had a few

[13:06] positions that we did not um that we

[13:10] that either were retiring or leaving

[13:13] that we did not repost those positions.

[13:16] So those were savings as well. So our

[13:19] total after doing all that work and I'll

[13:21] show a little bit more of that in the

[13:22] next slides was a decrease from the

[13:26] first version to the second version in

[13:27] local spending of $367,000.

[13:32] So, so that ultimately, next slide.

[13:41] You can see here was in $150,000 savings

[13:45] in special ed tuition. Um, that grant

[13:48] money I said which was able enabled us

[13:51] to

[13:53] decrease our general fund spending was

[13:55] $25,000.

[13:57] U and then some smaller savings in

[14:00] transportation and technology. Next

[14:02] slide.

[14:06] This is just a graph to show kind of

[14:08] where that $367,000

[14:11] is coming from. Another another picture

[14:13] there. Next slide.

[14:18] We have a lot of staffing shifts. This

[14:20] happens every year as new staff are

[14:23] coming on. They're projecting what the

[14:26] costs of health benefits are going to be

[14:30] in in new positions that are opening if

[14:33] staff are leaving. So you can see here

[14:35] there's a net change across 21 positions

[14:38] from that first version to the second

[14:40] version.

[14:42] The reduction of those two positions

[14:44] that are stated here, the tech

[14:45] innovation and high school social

[14:46] studies positions were a significant

[14:49] savings. However, the the changes to

[14:53] primarily to healthcare benefits to

[14:55] employes and hiring new employees. Um

[14:59] again, this is a projection. That's all

[15:01] we have right now. Um

[15:03] we we essentially had saw $41,000 net

[15:07] increase even with those two reductions.

[15:10] And of course, every year that changes

[15:12] as you hire people.

[15:18] Next slide.

[15:22] Um there was some confusion I think from

[15:24] the community when we tried

[15:26] the what the $575,000

[15:29] in federal funding what the impact was

[15:32] on the FY27 budget

[15:36] that is not impacting the the local

[15:40] taxation other than the offset that it

[15:42] was enabled us to do in the curriculum

[15:45] line I mentioned the 200,000

[15:48] because we have to state the total

[15:50] budget number with all of our grant

[15:52] funds it was confusing to some people

[15:55] who thought, "Oh, wait. It looks like

[15:57] the budget's going up." The total budget

[16:00] amount went up, but the the tax burden

[16:03] to community members went down by that

[16:06] $367,000.

[16:10] Next slide.

[16:14] Sometimes it's hard to understand like

[16:16] people are ask questions like what you

[16:19] know how much if we cut this much from

[16:21] the budget, what would what would that

[16:23] mean in terms of So this is just an

[16:26] example. The cost of a 5centent tax rate

[16:28] cut

[16:29] would be the elimination of close to

[16:32] teaching positions.

[16:34] So that that tax rate does not move

[16:36] significantly.

[16:39] An example being from budget to budget

[16:42] version one version two if we went to a

[16:44] version three we wouldn't probably see

[16:47] that

[16:48] impacted significantly.

[16:52] Next slide.

[16:55] We've tried to share. I think it's it's

[16:58] hard it's hard for people even in

[17:01] education who work within school finance

[17:03] to sometimes understand how Vermont the

[17:06] Vermont funding system works. And I

[17:09] think that that is one of the things if

[17:10] you've been following the legislature,

[17:12] one of the things legislature has talked

[17:14] about for many years now is need to

[17:16] reform the ed funding system because

[17:19] it's very opaque and the at large. It's

[17:24] hard to engage in it and understand how

[17:27] it all works.

[17:29] The thing that I think is really

[17:30] important for for folks in Springfield

[17:33] to understand is how much we're spending

[17:36] of our total budget. And I think there

[17:38] is and people have talked about the

[17:40] sticker shock of a $42 million budget.

[17:44] We are fortunate in that of that 42 we

[17:48] are only Springfield is paying roughly 9

[17:51] million of that 42 million and you can

[17:55] see that reflected if you go to the next

[17:57] slide.

[18:02] So this is an actual tax bill from last

[18:06] year

[18:07] and the you can see that the assessed

[18:11] value this is a home that was that

[18:13] $118,000.

[18:16] And you can see even though the town's

[18:19] budget is much smaller,

[18:22] the tax burden to an individual in town

[18:25] is higher because the school budget

[18:29] essentially for a Springfield taxpayer

[18:31] is that $9 million.

[18:35] So you can see that the the municipal

[18:37] tax rate on this this is just a sample

[18:40] tax bill from

[18:44] $2,300 municipal tax, education tax is

[18:47] 1,800.

[18:50] So again, just important to understand

[18:52] how all these pieces kind of fit

[18:54] together as you're looking at our total

[18:57] budget.

[19:00] Next slide.

[19:04] So this brings our cost for people. It's

[19:07] $181 reduction from the first version to

[19:10] this version. We are now at $15,000. We

[19:14] are not considered high spenders across

[19:17] the state. We are

[19:20] probably average in our region as well.

[19:27] Next slide.

[19:31] So at the end of the day, you can see

[19:33] this version is $15,000 per cubicle cost

[19:38] and the local expenditure growth, so

[19:40] that's budget to budget is now just

[19:43] under 1%.

[19:47] Next slide.

[19:52] So one of the things that I think all of

[19:55] us felt all I think the entire school

[19:58] district

[20:00] and and the board really reflected this

[20:02] in in the vision that they set forth in

[20:06] looking at version two was

[20:08] we understand that there is really

[20:11] critical systems work happening at

[20:13] Springfield now and

[20:17] to after we we've done a lot of work

[20:20] over the last year to analyze where we

[20:22] are to be really honest about our gaps

[20:26] and what we need to grow in and address

[20:29] those that if we take the legs out from

[20:32] the district at a time when we really

[20:35] need to be investing in these systems

[20:37] and addressing our issues and

[20:39] celebrating our strengths,

[20:41] we're going to be treading water and

[20:43] it's going to have a real impact on our

[20:45] students.

[20:47] So, as we as our administrative team got

[20:50] together to look at how are we going to

[20:52] develop version two, we were really

[20:55] clear that we we absolutely have to

[20:58] these systems and these initiatives and

[21:01] programs that we're working on

[21:03] at the the forefront and and this budget

[21:06] is is funding all of that work that that

[21:10] we've shared and all the different

[21:12] communications that we've had around the

[21:14] why behind this work. I did want Alina

[21:16] to come up just briefly.

[21:23] Sure.

[21:27] » Yes. Alina Martinez

[21:30] do a presentation.

[21:35] » So I want to just talk a little bit

[21:36] about the literacy work. Um it was clear

[21:40] to me when I first came to Springfield

[21:43] that this really had to be our number

[21:46] one priority because it is the core of

[21:49] learning and everything success revolves

[21:52] around reading.

[21:53] So I wanted her to talk a little bit

[21:55] about the work we've done this year and

[21:57] what we are investing in in terms of

[21:59] that work going through.

[22:03] >> Thank you. Um so as Dr. said we have a

[22:06] huge focus on literacy as I came in last

[22:08] year joined us last year. We looked

[22:11] quite deeply into what our schools were

[22:13] doing and we did a huge um outreach to

[22:18] our staff, our students, our community

[22:20] around what we needed. looked and

[22:21] analyzed all of our data and noted that

[22:24] literacy had to be a number one

[22:26] priority. So from that,

[22:29] excuse me, from that what we did was we

[22:32] created a committee and that committee

[22:34] has committed to really putting literacy

[22:38] on the forefront. And with that

[22:40] commitment, they said every third grader

[22:42] is going to read. In order to do that,

[22:45] we knew we had to provide a lot of

[22:47] training for our teachers to know what

[22:49] they were getting from K through 12. Um,

[22:51] we didn't want did not want to just

[22:53] address our foundational prek K1

[22:56] students that had all of the needed. We

[22:59] wanted to see who our students were high

[23:01] school and we wanted to make sure that

[23:03] they were also addressed. So, all four

[23:05] of our principles have committed to

[23:06] ensure that the teachers know what

[23:09] foundational skills and how to address

[23:11] our students as they come in. This is

[23:14] commitment to do this training. So that

[23:17] in itself is a huge hurdle, right? On

[23:20] top of that, we also recognized that our

[23:23] program was varied in all buildings and

[23:27] even classrooms. So the next piece was

[23:30] bringing a program that could align all

[23:32] of our teachers, create some common

[23:34] language and our next steps are finally

[23:38] taking those pilots of and education

[23:42] resources and deciding which one we're

[23:44] going to use. Um and then we have some

[23:47] lofty goals after that you know with not

[23:50] only programming do quite a bit of

[23:52] training for teachers just on how to use

[23:54] the program and then

[23:57] assessments and PLC's and some real deep

[24:01] dives and data on how we're

[24:04] So

[24:10] final slide.

[24:16] » So thank you and

[24:20] excited to answer any questions you

[24:22] might have.

[24:24] >> Okay. Thank you Dr. Peter Dr. Peter

[24:26] Burroughs. Does the board Rick anything

[24:30] else to offer?

[24:34] Okay, we will now open the floor to

[24:36] questions and comments from the public.

[24:41] » Please state your one more thing. As a

[24:42] reminder, please step out the

[24:44] microphone. Thank you. Wait to be

[24:46] recognized. State your name and address

[24:47] and limit your initial to questions to

[24:49] three minutes.

[25:00] I think

[25:06] this environment

[25:17] said that

[25:20] identified as a problem. So how big is

[25:23] the problem?

[25:27] Why is it

[25:29] so

[25:34] district?

[25:51] » Okay. Thank you, Dr. Burrows.

[25:53] >> Great. So, one of the things I guess I

[25:55] would start by saying how we got here

[25:59] was

[26:01] not dissimilar to a lot of districts

[26:03] that begin argently with initiatives

[26:09] not just on literacy, but it could be

[26:10] about math. It could be about anything.

[26:13] And

[26:15] it's it can be very challenging to build

[26:19] and maintain systems when

[26:22] districts are siloed. And I think one of

[26:25] the things that we recognized and I

[26:28] shared this in the first development

[26:29] plan report and then it it keeps coming

[26:32] up as as we work on our strategic plan

[26:35] too is

[26:36] we need to be thinking as a system. We

[26:39] can't be thinking about you know I can't

[26:42] h you as a teacher and you're a third

[26:46] grade teacher and you come in and I ask

[26:49] you to teach reading, but I don't really

[26:51] tell you how we teach. I don't tell you

[26:53] what our beliefs are in our district

[26:55] about about teaching literacy, how we

[26:58] assess, how we communicate that what our

[27:01] intervention system looks like and how

[27:02] it operates. So, it it is a bit complex

[27:06] and I think I think we got there not by

[27:09] not trying and not good work in places

[27:13] but by by not being aligned and not

[27:15] having real clarity around

[27:19] what our reading system was.

[27:21] So we I think everyone recognizes that

[27:24] people have talked when I first got here

[27:28] um people pointed to this as one of the

[27:31] big things we really need to work on

[27:34] in terms of how long it takes to get

[27:36] there. There is so much research on

[27:38] reading and

[27:41] you've been following education over the

[27:44] last five years. The science of reading

[27:46] during co was this massive title wer

[27:50] that really shifted people's thinking

[27:53] around literacy.

[27:56] So out of co most districts

[28:01] pretty much like

[28:03] double down on the science of reading.

[28:08] What we are doing right now is shared.

[28:12] We are we are making sure that we're not

[28:15] just buying products and blindly putting

[28:19] initiatives in, but that we're building

[28:21] understanding among all our staff and

[28:25] building a system that any new teacher

[28:28] coming in understands so that the work

[28:31] we do doesn't just kind of float away.

[28:34] if Alena is not here or someone else is

[28:37] not here that that work doesn't just go

[28:39] away but it becomes part of the fabric

[28:41] of the district. So that involves both

[28:44] determining the scope and sequence what

[28:47] the curriculum is.

[28:49] It includes strategies for for how we're

[28:52] teaching in the classroom. It it

[28:55] includes what we're doing when a student

[28:57] isn't reading at grade level and when does that become something that a

[29:02] classroom teacher can't manage on their

[29:03] own? They need support of

[29:05] interventionist someone who will help

[29:07] with additional reading.

[29:10] And then teachers need training too in

[29:13] best practice and that's something that

[29:15] we have to sustain over time. We can't

[29:17] do that once. We have to continue to do

[29:19] that

[29:21] and we have limited amount of

[29:23] professional development time. So some

[29:25] sometimes those things take longer. If

[29:27] you were in the private sector, you

[29:29] could send someone away for three weeks

[29:31] and get the training. And we have these

[29:34] little pieces of time to do that. So, we

[29:36] have to do it kind of we're kind of

[29:39] building the plan as we're flying it

[29:41] sometimes in education.

[29:46] » Does that answer your question?

[29:50] >> Open up the floor.

[30:01] I did have a quick question

[30:04] on the county.

[30:18] However, the actual budget itself

[30:32] I just wanted to

[30:35] see is there a way for that

[30:55] I'd like to make you a legislator.

[31:01] » Yeah. I mean, we we jokingly talked

[31:03] about that. We would love to change the

[31:05] ballot language to to make it clearer so

[31:07] that the public really understood. It's

[31:11] something I have talked about quite a

[31:13] lot and yeah, we are constrained to

[31:16] that.

[31:19] But you know both the cost per pupil and

[31:23] the budget to budget increase both went

[31:26] down.

[31:30] » Thank you.

[31:32] >> Y Mr.

[31:42] My question is about the federal

[31:44] funding.

[31:46] Is it one time only? Is it restricted to

[31:50] specific purposes and how is the

[31:53] district going to spend that money this

[31:55] year and going forward if it goes beyond

[31:58] this year? Thank you. So this funing

[32:02] is for three years. So this is year one

[32:06] of three years. The constraints around

[32:09] this spending are it has to be

[32:14] instructionally focused to support

[32:16] improvement in areas that we have been

[32:20] identified by the state as needing

[32:21] improvement. And these aren't surprises.

[32:24] These are things that we've been talking

[32:26] about and needing to build systems

[32:28] around. So, we are working right now. We

[32:32] haven't allocated all $575,000

[32:36] for next year and it's three schools.

[32:38] It's not four schools. The high school

[32:40] didn't receive the funding. So, three of

[32:42] our four schools received that funding.

[32:45] We've only allocated that 200 or so to

[32:49] the curriculum costs to offset toward

[32:53] this version. So, we we still have, you

[32:56] know, 300,000

[32:59] left to allocate. We want to make sure

[33:03] that our process for doing that is

[33:06] aligned to all of the work that we're

[33:08] identifying and that we're not just

[33:10] looking at trying to fix a problem by

[33:13] hiring a staff member, for example,

[33:16] which in my experience in education, one

[33:19] of the things that happens frequently is

[33:22] there's an issue or a problem and we

[33:24] hire someone with a certain title to fix

[33:27] that problem.

[33:29] What doesn't happen when you do that is

[33:31] you don't solve the underlying issue of

[33:35] the the infrastructure and the framework

[33:38] not supporting the the kind of deep

[33:40] learning that you need. So that is that

[33:43] is the work that we will be doing we'll

[33:45] be making sure that we're really

[33:47] thoughtful and that it's tied to what

[33:49] will soon be a finished strategic plan

[33:52] in June which will drive our budget. It

[33:56] will drive our spending for the grant

[34:00] and it will it will give us direction.

[34:07] » Yes. Go ahead.

[34:17] » Um so if the previous budget had passed

[34:20] and wasn't

[34:24] that increase the u

[34:34] I'm just curious for later.

[34:39] >> Um so we we wouldn't have offset because

[34:42] we would have already allocated those

[34:46] general funds to the the curriculum

[34:49] training and curriculum work that we had

[34:51] identified. It wouldn't have offset

[34:53] that. We would had that full amount and

[34:56] we would have done the same

[35:00] work that we're currently doing to

[35:01] figure out how we're going to utilize

[35:02] that. There could be a potential to offset other general fund

[35:07] spending. So that that's a possibility.

[35:11] Um I think the intention from the state

[35:14] is to provide additional resource to

[35:17] really get at some of these issues. And

[35:21] yeah, so it's a it's a good question.

[35:24] This is more like a point in time.

[35:31] » Thank you. Any further questions?

[35:36] Possibly online, on the phone.

[35:51] » Okay. Uh, looks like we've answered the

[35:53] last of the questions. Before we

[35:54] adjourn, I would like to remind everyone

[35:56] once again that the vote will take place

[35:57] on Tuesday, May 5th at Riverside Middle

[36:00] School from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

[36:04] May I have a motion to for the uh for

[36:06] the board to adjourn the meeting.

[36:10] » Motion to

[36:12] second.

[36:16] » All in favor say I. I.

[36:19] >> Nay. Quick.

[36:21] your

[36:24] >> eyes have it meeting is adjourned at at

[36:28] exactly 6:31 p.m. Thank you very much

[36:31] for attending that.

[36:33] >> Thank you.

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[36:59] Thanks for watching.

Springfield School Board Special Budget Meeting - 4/30/26

Transcript